World Cup: First American Game

It appears as though I've caught the fever.

Despite my earlier protestations, I have watched 9 of the first 11 matches of the World Cup.

I knew more about soccer than the average American beforehand, but watching so many games all at once has definitely given me an excellent perspective to better understand the game. The best performance so far was clearly Germany's destruction of the Australian side on Sunday night. German efficiency in soccer, paralleling their efficiency in industry, is often described with the word "machine" in conversations here. Their passing and control were phenomenal. Right now, the consensus seems to be they are the team to beat.

The worst matches so far were likely the scoreless Uruguay-France matchup or the sloppy Algeria-Slovenia one.

Though, my favorite match by far was the American draw against an excellent England squad. Daniel, Chelsea and I headed to a local bar to watch it. The bar was mostly empty as Moroccans generally use cafes to watch sports games and bars to find prostitutes. A couple from Reno, Nevada on their honeymoon trip through Morocco sat behind us, but otherwise there was only a smattering of Moroccan men in suits only mildly interested in the game.

I walked in three minutes late coming from church. One minute later, Gerrard scored England's only goal, and Daniel told me to leave the bar. Fortunately, we discovered over the course of the match that my arrival had no causative effect on England's goal. I watched the rest of the game and England didn't score again.

When Clint Dempsey scored his goal, Daniel started jumping around and screaming his excitement. The couple from Nevada just laughed, but the prostitute sitting near him got so scared she almost left her seat. All in all, it was a great game. Both sides played well and mounted good attacks. Both goalkeepers had excellent saves. There were no stupid mistakes that plagued Algeria's side.

This is only the fifth day. We're only 12 matches in. It's going to be an exciting month!